Protocoleoptera

The Protocoleoptera are a paraphyletic group of extinct beetles, containing the earliest and most primitive lineages of beetles. They represented the dominant group of beetles during the Permian, but were largely replaced by modern beetle groups during the following Triassic. Protocoleopterans typically possess prognathous (horizontal) heads, distinctive elytra with regular window punctures, cuticles with tubercles or scales, as well as a primitive pattern of ventral sclerites, similar to the modern archostematan families Ommatidae and Cupedidae. They are thought to have been xylophagous and w

Coleopsis is an extinct genus of stem-group beetles. It contains a single species, Coleopsis archaica, and is the only member of the family Coleopsidae and superfamily Coleopsoidea. It is known from a single specimen from the Early Permian of southwestern Germany, estimated to be about 297 million years old. It is currently the oldest known beetle.